Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning are 20th Century Women

Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning have joined the cast of Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women, Annapurna Pictures announced today. Mills wrote and will direct the new film which Megan Ellison is producing through Annapurna alongside Anne Carey of Archer Gray and Youree Henley. Annapurna’s Chelsea Barnard will serve as executive producer.

Set in Santa Barbara during the summer of 1979, 20th Century Women tells the story of Dorothea Fields, a mother who’s trying her best to raise her teenage son, Jamie. Navigating life and love, sex and freedom, men and women isn’t easy as Dorothea looks for answers from two other remarkable women in her life. Each from a different era of the 20th Century, these three women seek to find what it means to be a man and help set Jamie on the right course. Filled with punk-rock verve, 20th Century Women aims to take a humorous and heartfelt look at how we figure out who we are.

Bening will play iconoclastic mother Dorothea, who finds herself raising punk teenager Jamie alone in the chaotic world of 1979. Gerwig will play Abbie, a young sophisticated photographer submersed in the punk culture of the era who is forced to return to her home town and ends up living with Dorothea and Jamie. Fanning will pay Julie, a 16-year old smart and secretively provocative friend of Jamie’s who challenges Dorothea’s understanding of love, learning valuable lessons about life in the process.

“These three characters are all women that I knew growing up,” said Mills. “I’m thrilled to have Annette, Greta and Elle, three incredible actresses who will bring an authenticity and vulnerability to each of these very strong, funny and complicated roles.”

Filming is set to begin later this year in Southern California.

Bening has notably been nominated for four Academy Awards, most recently for her lead role in Focus Features’ The Kids Are All Right. Her recent credits include Danny Collins, The Search, and The Face of Love. Up next she will star in an untitled film about Howard Hughes from writer/director Warren Beatty.

Gerwig recently co-wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed Frances Ha for IFC Films, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. She most recently wrapped production on Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan as the title role of Maggie opposite Julianne Moore and Ethan Hawke. Next she stars in Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America for Fox Searchlight, which will be released this summer.

Fanning recently starred in Disney’s smash hit Maleficent and lent her voice to the Academy Award-nominated animated film The Boxtrolls. She next stars in Trumboalongside Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane and Helen Mirren, which will be released later this year. She also stars in the upcoming Three Generations opposite Naomi Watts and Susan Sarandon, and is currently filming director Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon.

Bening is represented by CAA, Gerwig is represented by UTA and Management 360, and Fanning is represented by WME and Echo Lake Entertainment.